Chapter Twenty-Three #5
Aedan found himself glancing at Jennie to see how she was reacting to the scene.
He most enjoyed catching her unaware. Jennie couldn’t help but smile when her brother’s booming voice echoed through the room.
The tale was about some monster, and Alex’s interpretation had all the weans staring at him with wide eyes.
He noticed Loki had made his way over a bit closer so he could hear the story.
He was quite sure that Maddie would have told the tale differently, and the weans would probably beg him to read many more books to them in the future if they managed to survive the night without haunted dreams.
Aedan moved over and took the seat next to Jennie. “Your brother is lost without his wife, I see. She has never been sick before?”
“Nay, never. She has the constitution of a horse, and if she is forced to bear any pain, she never lets on. Maddie has been invincible up until now.”
“She’ll get better? ‘Tis not some unknown sickness?”
“Aye, she’ll improve in a few months, after she delivers the bairn. Mayhap this will be their last.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jennie sneaks away from Clan Grant without telling her brother.
Jennie filled another saddle bag and snuck down to the stables. She waited until Mac was alone. “Mac.”
The old man jumped at the sound of his name. “Jennie. What is it? I’d not heard you.”
“You must help me.”
“Aye, anything, lassie.”
“I need a horse, and I need a few guards to travel with me to Cameron land. Who can I trust?”
Mac let out a slow whistle. “Lass, if you do this thing, you will be taking your life in your hands two different ways.”
She scowled at Mac, unsure of his meaning.
“One, there are many reivers about. Two, you will be sneaking out without telling Alex. I take it he has refused your request for escorts?”
“Aye, but I must go. The abbess at Lochluin Abbey told me ‘twas divine intervention that brought me there in time to save Aedan. Now he is going into battle again, and he could be dying. I’ll fret terribly until I see him with my own eyes.” Her eyes misted at her confession.
Mac stared at her for a long moment before walking over to a horse and saddling him. He spoke to a stable lad and sent him off in the opposite direction. “I have five guards who will protect you. Get yourself set. You’ll need to leave in a hurry.”
Jennie had only been traveling half a day when the rumble of horses’ hooves met her ears.
She motioned to her guards to move off the regular path and hid in a copse of trees, waiting to see who was approaching, quite sure it had to be a group of Grant warriors because there were so many.
Hellfire, but she was not going back—no matter what her brothers said.
As the horses drew near, her heartbeat sped up. What if it wasn’t the Grant warriors? She could be in danger if not. She thought of what Brodie had said about how war drew the most unsavory of men.
Suddenly, the rumble came to a halt. It was still a good distance away, so she crept out from her spot to see if she could determine who was approaching.
As soon as she stepped out from hiding, a throat cleared off to the side.
She jumped and whirled around in time to see Alex standing in front of her, his arms crossed as he leaned against a tree.
“Handfasted? You handfasted without seeking my permission?”
She tipped her head back and bellowed to the heavens. “Brodie! ‘Tis the last time I ever confide in you.”
Brodie came up on his horse, his grin wide. “Sorry, lass. Mac and I both consider your safety a priority. You didn’t think Mac would let you go without telling his laird, did you?”
Alex pointed back to her horse. “Mount up. Cameron is under attack and we need to get there soon. You’re lucky we are too far for me to send you back.
I will not split my men, and we need all the guards we have to help him.
You will go to the abbey while we join the battle. ‘Tis expected to take place tonight.”
Alex whistled for Midnight.
“But Alex, who is the traitor?” Jennie stared at him as he mounted the horse, hoping he knew the answer.
“Hmmm…my own sister did not trust me enough to tell me that she handfasted or that she was in love with the Cameron, and now you wish for me to share my news with you?” Alex galloped ahead of her, leaving her in his dust without a backwards glance.
Hell, but Alex was angry, and he had every right to be.
She found a log and mounted her horse so she could follow in his path.
Aye, he was stubborn, but she would be relentless.
If there was one thing she knew to be true, it was that her brother loved her.
And that meant he would forgive her. Eventually, she was able to catch up with him.
“But Alex, you were so distraught over Maddie that you wouldn’t have listened.
If you recall, I did tell you I had feelings for him. ”
“Would I not? And you know that how?” His gaze bore into hers and she finally knew how it felt to be under attack by Alex Grant.
Jennie didn’t answer; she couldn’t answer. Somehow, she knew she had failed her own brother, and it hurt. How could she make it up to him? She hung her head and fell in behind him, her eyes misting.
He yelled at her over his shoulder. “You will go to the abbey as instructed, sister, and if I must tie you to a tree in front, I will. You will not impede this battle in any way. Understood?”
Jennie whispered, “Aye.” They rode hard, and she spent a good portion of the time sobbing. She had disappointed the man she loved like a father.
What should have been the happiest day of her life had turned into a disaster.
The Grant men arrived in the middle of the night, stopping at the abbey on the way for just long enough to leave Jennie there before they continued onward.
Before they left, Jennie moved over to Alex’s horse and gazed up at him.
“I’m sorry I failed you. But please help Aedan.
Do not allow the attackers to win. You must save him. I love him, Alex.”
She would not fight Alex in this. The Grant warriors were here, and Aedan needed them most.
She had gotten this far, now she would just have to wait.
Chapter Nineteen
And when Jennie thought her husband was dead, Alex was there for her too.
Jennie vomited twice before she cleaned her mouth and climbed onto Drew’s horse. He had to be lying, he just had to be. As they rode toward the castle, Drew continued.
“Fletcher ran him through. We were wrong. We all thought the traitor was Hamish, and we left Irvine to guard Aedan at the rear. Only Irvine turned on him and drove his sword through his belly. He died instantly. I’m sorry, Jennie.”
She clung to Drew from behind and leaned her head into his back, sobbing and wailing uncontrollably.
But it didn’t make sense. If he were truly dead, where were they going?
“Where are you taking me?” she asked through tears. “If he’s dead, I do not want to see him. Have Fletcher and the Englishmen taken over the castle?”
“Aye, they have taken over, but your brother is here with his men and they guard Cameron’s body for burial. Fletcher’s men tried to take him so they could put his body on display for all to see, but your brothers got him back.”
She refused to believe it. The Lord would not do such a thing to her.
He would not take her husband from her within a few days of their marriage, would he?
Her stomach churned even though there was naught inside.
She would never eat again, never. How could her intuition have been so wrong?
She had come, just as she had been told to do.
The Lord had told her she was needed by her husband, and here she was.
She had trusted in God just as the abbess had told her to do. Had he lied to her?
Trying her best to hold everything together, she slipped into the same inner zone that helped protect her heart and her soul when she treated wailing men, torn and slashed and bloody from battle, though it had failed her of late.
Drew helped her to dismount, and she glanced to the center of the gathering, where a man lay unmoving on a Cameron plaid. Brodie ran toward her.
“Jennie, nay. Do not come any further. We wanted you here safe, but please do not look at him.” Brodie held her back. “‘Tis not a memory you wish to keep.”
She glanced toward the body, her eyes taking in the blood that covered it from head to toe.
Something swelled in her body, something from deep in her belly, and she couldn’t control it.
Aedan. It was Aedan, she would know him anywhere.
Aedan lay dead on the ground in front of her.
All thoughts of it being a lie fled, and reality set in—a horrible reality of which she wanted to part.
“Nay!” She screamed over and over again, pushing and shoving against Brodie, raking her nails down his skin. He held fast. “Nay, he’s my husband, let me be. Brodie, let me hold him, please. I love him.”
She sobbed hysterically for what seemed like an eternity while ironclad arms held her back. “Please, let me hold him one more time. I did not have enough time with him. I need to hold him…once more is all I ask.” She crumpled against her brother, clinging to him. “Let me be, please, Brodie.”
She fought against Brodie, kicking and screaming, until he finally let her go.
But before she could make it to her husband’s dead body, someone grabbed her from behind.
Alex picked her up and cradled her like a babe, carrying her away from her husband.
“Nay, Alex,” she screamed, “let me love him once more. Nay, nay, nay.”